Patrick’s words were assertive, leaving Melissa speechless.
She could only sit on the floor, bowing her head and crying, unable to say a word.
“What else do you have to say now?” Patrick asked again.
Unexpectedly, Melissa suddenly burst into laughter, a manic laughter that even startled the police officers and the chief in the room.
“Do you think others don’t know about the things you’ve done? They were originally twins, so why did they become four children? Don’t you want to know who those two children are?”
Melissa’s sudden mention of the children caught Patrick off guard.
He already knew that the two children were brought by Beatrice specifically to confuse Jane.
However, he had never considered the identity of the two children, and it had never crossed his mind.
“Tell me everything you know,” Patrick approached her and forcefully grabbed her chin, asking menacingly.
Melissa struggled to open his hand with all her strength. “Why should I tell you? Unless you let me go.”
Patrick fell silent. Until the identities of these two children were clarified, there would be no peace.
So the two of them confronted each other for a long time, and in the end, Patrick compromised.
“I promise you.”
He then walked up to the front and whispered something in Melissa’s ear. Two police officers approached and unlocked Melissa’s handcuffs.
“Cousin, I knew you still cared about me. I know you can’t bear to let me go,” Melissa took advantage of the situation and acted coy.
Patrick didn’t want to argue with her and simply put her in the car. “Now you can talk.”
Melissa, however, lay on the back seat, acting as if she hadn’t had enough. “I want to take a shower. I’ve been exhausted these past few days at the police station. I need to clean up properly.”
Patrick suppressed his inner anger and drove her to a hotel entrance, directly throwing her inside without any care.
Melissa walked in freely and left Jane’s contact information at the front desk.
Meanwhile, Jane was still by her mother’s bedside, who was still unconscious.
Patrick had been waiting outside the door all this time until Melissa came out from inside after two hours. Only then did he get in the car.
“I need some clean clothes. Cousin, you can’t let me embarrass our family,” Melissa made one demand after another, and surprisingly, Patrick fulfilled them all.
He took her to a mall and bought her new clothes. However, at each location, Melissa would leave Jane’s contact information behind.
“You have the clothes now, and you’ve done everything you wanted to do. Now, can you tell me whose children they are?” Patrick asked.
Upon hearing this, Melissa tightly closed her eyes and didn’t even look at Patrick, simply saying, “The two children are mine.”
Patrick was dumbfounded, unable to believe what he was hearing. “What are you talking about? You’re not even married, where did these children come from?”
Melissa didn’t answer and simply closed her eyes to rest. This news struck Patrick like a bolt from the blue, and he took Melissa to the front of an apartment complex.
This apartment was his private residence, and not many people usually came here. He had actually planned to sell this house.
Melissa was quite satisfied with the new environment. “Cousin, I didn’t expect to be so important in your heart. My sister-in-law probably doesn’t know about this place, right?”
Patrick didn’t answer and threw a set of keys to her before leaving.
Melissa happily settled down in the apartment.
Hospital
Jane had still not received any news of her mother waking up by the evening, nor had she seen Patrick.
She only received one text message from an unknown person.
It was a record of expenses, and when she looked at the address on it, she realized she had never been there, and the hotel seemed quite far away.
Jane simply regarded it as a junk message and ignored it completely.
Before long, Patrick arrived at the hospital, holding a tray of soup specially prepared for Jane.
“You go back home for the night. I’ll stay here and inform you if there’s any news!”
Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, Patrick couldn’t help but feel heartbroken.
“Okay.”
Surprisingly, Jane didn’t refuse this time and agreed directly. She stayed with him and finished all the soup before preparing to leave.
Before leaving, she asked, “Has anyone from the police station called you?”
Patrick instinctively retorted, “Regarding Melissa’s matter, I’ve already taken care of it, right? No one should disturb us during this time.”
Jane nodded, somewhat believing and somewhat doubting his words.
“Do we need to inform your grandfather?”
Now that their parents’ situation had deteriorated to this extent, it was natural to notify their relatives to come and see them, giving them a chance to say their final goodbyes.
Jane sighed deeply. At the moment, she didn’t know how to answer. Her grandfather’s health had been poor, and he had been living in the countryside for medical treatment. He had no idea about her parents’ condition.
Jane was afraid that if anything happened to her grandfather’s health, she wouldn’t be able to bear the loss of another loved one.
“Let me find a suitable opportunity to tell him personally.”
Jane left the hospital and returned to her car. In her mind, she kept replaying Patrick’s words from earlier. In reality, the police had already called her after Patrick left, informing her that Melissa had been taken away by Patrick. The exact reasons were unknown, but they had heard that it was personally ordered by the chief.
She couldn’t understand what Patrick wanted to do or the reasons behind his actions.
Jane buried her head in the steering wheel, with images of her parents and Melissa’s sinister expression constantly surfacing in her mind, as if she was threatening her or showing off.
At that moment, her phone rang again. Jane answered and found it was a store assistant from a shopping mall.
“You left your phone at our counter when you made a purchase. If it’s convenient for you, we can come and deliver it to you!”
Hearing this voice, Jane found it even more strange. She hadn’t left the hospital at all during the day, so how could she have left her phone number there?
Suspecting something, she hung up the phone without hesitation.
Just as she was about to drive away, unexpectedly, the phone rang again, and it was the same number.
This time, Jane decided to answer.
“Sorry, I didn’t make any purchases in your store, nor did I leave my phone number at your counter. Perhaps you have the wrong person,” Jane suppressed her anger and frustration.
The store assistant on the other end of the line was polite, “Aren’t you Melissa Pansy?”
As soon as Jane heard that name, she immediately became alert. “What did you say? Say it again, who are you talking about?”